Cincinnati Bengals Heavy Favorites Against Houston Texans On MNF

USA Today

After eight games, the Cincinnati Bengals have proven to be among the NFL’s elite class. Andy Dalton and company are sporting a flawless 8-0 record heading into their showdown with the Houston Texans on Monday Night Football and will likely continue their win streak.

According to Sportsbook.ag, the Bengals are heavily favored to make it nine straight wins on the season. Cincinnati is currently the favorite with a -10.5 point spread against the Texans.

Although Houston was thought to be a team with a stout defense and a solid running game, this season has been an absolute nightmare for head coach Bill O’Brien. As if the added exposure of HBO’s Hard Knocks wasn’t enough pressure on the new head coach of the Texans, the team has dealt with injuries all season long and an unstable quarterback situation.

O’Brien has flip-flopped from Brian Hoyer to Ryan Mallett back to Hoyer. There’s been no consistency at the quarterback position, even though Hoyer appears to be the starter the rest of the way.

Ironically enough, the AFC South division is so bad that the Texans are still in the hunt for the division title. The Indianapolis Colts are usually the team to beat and were thought to have the division title wrapped at this point in the season, but have been equally as bad as the other three teams in the division.

With that being said, the Texans, despite being 3-5 on the season, still have something to fight for moving forward. The Colts sit ahead of Houston in the division with a 4-5 record, but the Texans can make up some ground with an upset of the Bengals in Week 10.

Unfortunately for Houston, Watt’s play won’t be enough to propel them to victory on the road. The Texans will almost certainly lose their sixth game of the season on Monday night with Cincinnati making a strong case to be the best team in the league. The New England Patriots may be getting a lot of attention right now for their perfect start, but the Bengals may be the better all-around squad and will look to keep it going tonight at Paul Brown Stadium.